Pulse Beats Dead
by crimson-clee
Summary: Wakaba Sayori. The girl merely known as the composed friend of the female part of the prefects. A supporting actor. He, Aidou Hanabusa. The vampire commonly known as the dallying centre of attraction. A self-proclaimed genius. Why did he fall for her?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Long story short - nothing's mine. Truly, it's sad.

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Prologue

_How can I not see the darker side of you?_

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The blond glanced at her watch again. She doubted whether Yuuki would eventually show up. It was already way past the curfew time, so she shouldn't even be here anymore. But she'd promised.

Sighing, Yori looked around, almost expecting her friend dashing out of the wood, gasping excuses for being late and smiling so sheepishly that it was impossible to be sulky. Of course, it was unlikely to happen any time soon. Yori knew, once Yuuki was caught up in her prefect duties it was difficult to get to her.

Well, experience taught better than common knowledge. Sometimes.

Oh.  
_Wait.  
_That's only till reality gained the upper hand.

She would give her a few more minutes. In the meantime, she returned to her sketch block. The outline was long finished. The lake and the sky were drawn, blurred lines made it seem more realistic than too much details. Fleecy clouds and spread smooth waves took up the centre and she contrasted them with thick pines and spruces.

This time she bothered with needles or single leaves on the ground. It held her mind occupied from whatever her friend was doing. She didn't want to be curious, suspicious. Yuuki was her roommate, her friend. But because of that she was warier all the more.

She was caught in between. As a friend she worried. As a friend she respected privacy. As being herself both was in her nature.

By the way -  
Being torn into two for so long had made her slightly wry.  
Still, she was calm enough to keep her suspicions to herself.

But brooding over this was ... nonsense. Yuuki would come talk to her when she wanted to.  
She took her pencil up again, finishing a branch skimming the water surface.

_._

_Pant. _

_._

_Crush._

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The blond turned upon hearing someone crash through the woods, just in time to see someone in the Night Class student uniform darting at her. Her eyes widened.

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"Aidou-senpai?"

Something red, nearly brown in the setting sun, trickled from his mouth.

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It's short, but the chapters to come are about ten times in length. If you've read this far, don't stop now - it's getting longer and more twisted =D Tell me what you think about this prologue.

And yeah, I've forgotten to mention it above, but this story is AU in the way that it mostly ignores the happenings in Vampire Knight Guilty.


	2. Vitreous Collision

1. Vitreous Collision

_Life's not only a bed of roses. It is full of thorns as well._

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_1__0 hours ago_

It was a paradoxical thing when he, a vampire, thought himself in seventh heaven. From a simple human's point of view dark creatures such as himself had to roast in hell. Anyway, he thought all along that humans followed too many delusions in their short lifetime.

It was like heaven: Finally he was able to fall onto his bed, drifting off into his sacred sleep, soundly and gracefully as he usually would do. And for everyone's sake, he earned it after being awake for freaking forty-four hours and on his toes.

But he realized fate cheated on him as someone obviously insane banged the door open.

Aidou buried his head under his pillow; he instantly knew dreamland was out of his reach. "What is it?" He mumbled grumpily against the sheet. With no doubt, he'd kill this person if he had enough energy to walk straight. He figured he would just have to remember the face and defer the pleasure.

"Kaname-sama has another task for you, Hanabusa."

Scratch the last train of thought. Why, why on earth had it to be one of the very few persons he wouldn't (and couldn't probably too) obliterate so easily? If it had been Kiriyuu Zero, the despicable prefect – well, he could expect not one hint of mercy or sorrow afterwards. Aidou groaned.

Even if he inwardly wished for a bloody massacre, the look he shot his cousin Kain Akatsuki was nowhere near impressive deadly. Yet, Akatsuki was used to his moods and therefore didn't work as an applied standard.

That was lucky. Less relieving on the opposite was that despite his dedication and loyalty to Kaname, just now, he wanted to freeze him over sooner or later. Didn't he do everything for him? Didn't he get all the damned jobs done he was asked to do? Hell, yes.  
Didn't he swallow the watery miscellany which was to substitute the blood of the living? And how! Hell, yes, he did. He should be thanked with a lifetime of free time without stupid rules to obey. In the end, what did he get for his devotion? Obviously not what he needed right now. Not that he needed a hand patting his pretty head in praise. Uh, that appeared rather gross ...

Sleep. He needed freaking time to sleep and recover when he began to ponder on this kind of stuff. "A-ka-tsuki." He whined in a sing-song voice, routing his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to. I don't want to. I just don't." With each syllable stretched long his pout deepened.

"Come on." His cousin sighed. "I don't want to remind you, but it is your fault that you've volunteered. Though, even I have no idea why you did. " He left his place at the door, hands nonchalantly in his trouser pockets, approaching his own bed opposite to Aidou's with long strides. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes wary. "Hanabusa, don't tell me you've angered Kaname-sama again."

Before Aidou blinked twice, his blanket was gone and his head suddenly resting on the bare bedsheet. Nap time was over making him almost grab his tousled blonds strands again to tear them out one at a time. "Hell, no!" The blond rubbed his eyes extensively and reached for his coat instead. "Ah, at least I don't remember."  
A darker shaded spot on the cloth captured his gaze for a second before he blew the dust away, nauseated. Those croaking Level E's weren't even worth half the attention needed to crush them – which was little with his kind of special abilities. "I'm going", he said in the doorway. His voice came out muffled as he stifled a big yawn behind his hand.

"Be careful." Akatsuki called after him.

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"Come out, you damnable freak!" Aidou stepped over the next threshold of this excuse of a house. His feet moved soundlessly on the cracked oaken floor. The three-storey building was on the border of collapsing just above his head. With a little luck on his side, it'd be crushing the trash, too.

With a couple of hours already passed, it had become impossible for him to show patience in luring the left ex-human vampire out little by little. Killing his companion had been so easy; she had been given the final blow like a wake-up call. It was like, "Good thing you never got the chance to become my fan, that would have ruined my image.", and _bang!_ – she crumbled into dust in no time.

The male one seemed to have retained bits of human intelligence. He hid himself for almost an hour now, while he let his snickering reach Aidou's ears. A trap, he was aware of it. It simply sucked.

He yawned and gave the dead woman some credit. She had done the right thing, sleeping deeply when the midday sun shone bright before the day turned into afternoon. And he, the aristocrat, envied her, a creature which equaled the dirt under his shoes. The world was so wrong these days. Vampires weren't allowed to suck blood, a pureblood had an affinity for a human girl and he graced the earth with his presence in the middle of the day. _Wrong_, damnit!

"Ah, shit." He cursed, quickly raising a hand to his nose while the other fished for a handkerchief in a pocket of his coat. A strong smell was caught in his nose, anything but a humanly positive one.

Aidou tightened his eyes in vigilance as he caught a glimpse of a figure on the other side of the paneled room hushing around a fallen ceiling beam which obrstructed the passage to a hallway because of its lopsided position. The shadow moved further out of his sight, probably taking the stairs. First, he mistook it for the Level-E, however, when he heard it dashing up the stairs he followed silently at a smart pace. Catching up remarkably easily, the noble vampire saw –

"Yuuki-chan?"

He froze in mid-step. What the …? It clicked audible in his mind as he jumped to conclusions.

Cross Yuuki. A Level-E. Air overflown with a striking smell.

Of course he recognized the scent of her blood. Muttering more curses, he darted after her. The sound of her footsteps and more fierce noises led him directly onto the third floor. Aidou grinded his teeth at the intensive smell as he went through the only open doorway; it was like he jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

Yuuki was lying below a smashed window. The sight made him throw caution to the wind since he knew that a badly hurt Yuuki was not one bit of a pleasant thing to Kaname. The handkerchief still pressed against his nose to avert further temptation, he checked on her; to his discomfiture the girl was bleeding more than he'd assumed. He averted his gaze hastily to the empty room and came to realize that the culprit was gone.

Great. Plain great. It flashed through his mind that Kaname-sama would be on the verge of strangling him.

After flipping his cell phone open, he called Akatsuki who merely promised backup before he hung up on him. Aidou snorted, his blue eyes sparkled angrily_. That bastard is gone and I'm stuck in this bloody room to babysit the stupid girl. _He couldn't imagine someone would actually allow the naïve Cross Yuuki to slay a Level-E, so why wasn't she at school like she was meant to be at this time of the day?  
He took off his coat, threw it over the fragile girl on the floor and slumped down against the wall across from her where he was able to watch the surroundings while he waited for the others. His constricting throat as well as his antipathy hindered him from doing more than just that.

**.**

It took about fifteen minutes until they arrived. Aidou heard a car's engine skidding to a rough stop and supposed the driver had been ordered to go at top speed. It was not like he was unhappy about that – some more minutes withstanding the temptation to lick the inebriating blood off her skin might have driven him insane to the border of succumbing. Most likely his brain was already damaged, imprinted upon her fragrance. His throat felt sore, his hand automatically clung to it.

Akatsuki and Kaname found him in that significant posture. While the former took a wary stand in the doorway, the pureblood headed towards Yuuki and bent over her, his face stern while he stroked one loose strand off her face and scanned her state with his eyes. "Aidou, what happened?" Kaname's voice was velvet as he lifted her into his arms, but the demanding tone was undeniable.

Aidou's eyes opened slowly. He'd closed them in the attempt to block out the picture before him. "When I arrived, Yuuki was already like this and the target nowhere in sight." He stated as he got up leaning on the panel with his side. Things were going to be settled, but the pureblood didn't look as if he was about to punish him for Cross girl's bad luck. Good for her. "Why did she try to hunt the Level-E down? She's not part of the Vampire Hunter Association or anything, is she?."

"The chairman wasn't informed of her trip either, so we won't know as long as Yuuki is unconscious." Kaname's forehead creased slightly before he continued. "Aidou, you'll finish your assignment. Catch that Level-E alive if possible, he might know something. "

He bowed, a good pretense to hide the un-willingness reflected in eyes. "Yes, Kaname-sama."

The pureblood turned with Akatsuki following in his shadow. "We're leaving now, I expect a full report later. Don't disappoint me, Aidou." When they passed the door, his cousin gave Aidou a long inquiring glance. Even without that hint, he'd have known that there was something odd.

"Of course not, Kaname-sama." He answered into the vacant room. Even if Kaname didn't hear him, the blond was sure that it was out of question for the highest of vampires that he didn't obey, that he was even able to draw himself from the authority in his eyes. Aidou gave in on this; no matter how worn out he was, any task given by Kuran Kaname took priority.

But there appeared a problem: even so, he was annoyed at actually having to search for that lowly creature. On top of this, his senses were tingling because of the still blood-stained air hanging in this decrepit house. How was he meant to trail the beast by scent when his delicate nose was led astray by an unseen red cloud?

**.**

Aidou leapt from the window sill where the Level-E had broke through after his encounter with the Cross girl. Light-footed he hit the ground of the backyard between even more trash and dust. Somewhat clearer air washed over him, easing the tension in his chest like he'd been drowning and suddenly stumbled across the water surface.

He breathed deeply when he made his way over low wood laths to a side street. The former owner must have misinterpreted the object of a fence, but whatever. Aidou sighed as he turned the corner. It was not his mission to bring good taste to unworthy people who were probably and hopefully already dead. He had to –

"Stop right there, vampire."

He looked up, taken aback by the offensive view of a silver muzzle pointed at his face. "Eh?" It took him a moment to comprehend the situation and a second one to find the right words to form. Even if it wasn't the first time, the impudence of this guy made him boil with rage each time anew. "Kiriyuu Zero! Fuck off, bastard." He grinded through his teeth. "Why is it that all you prefects keep getting in my way today?"

"All...? Yuuki was here? What did you do to her?" Zero inquired, strengthening his grip around the weapon with his left hand. The skin over his knuckels seemed white next to transparent. "Spill it. Now."

Aidou waved his hand in a dismissive manner. _What a nerve the bastard has!_ "Why would I tell you, Mr. Prefect? It's not like I'm the culprit – since it's her fault that the Level-E escaped after he'd hurt her." He tried to skirt the silver haired boy, however having the muzzle of the Bloody Rose hovering five inches away from his face restrained him from getting his way. He frowned.

"She's hurt? What's with the blood all over you?"

"Kaname-sama has already taken care of her." Aidou said icily. The hue of his gaze matched his voice. Kiriyuu was beyond wrecking his nerves acting so unaffected by the intense and clear message in Aidou's grimace.

The prefect's eyes rested somewhere greatly beside his head.

"That Level-E?"

"Which Level-E? There was just one left. Since when do you have responsibility of an exhibition?" But the blonde's head followed in direction, dissipating his quite illustrative thoughts of congealing Zero into a stiff column of ice. _It fits his attitude_, Aidou found. The derisive curl on his lips died away as his eyes caught sight on his actual target.

The ex-human snickered, his unkempt hair bordering his face, causing the blotched jacket to fall from his madly trembling shoulders. He moved from his spot on the metal banister of a outside staircase, suddenly crushing Aidou with bone-wrecking force to the ground. He twisted and lurched on the dusty earth, his hands – scratch that, his _claws_ dug in Aidou's clothes, ripping and tearing it and landing rare scratches.

"Get the hell _off_ me, scum!" He hissed when he finally shoved the vampire off with unusual brute force. It crashed into some metal trash bins on the opposite walls of the alleyway, the shrill sound echoing in his hears. "Disgusting," was all Aidou commented while he straightened up. He shot Zero a murderous glance. "Shoot him already, _hunter_." He said mockingly.

Besides arching a brow Zero remained motionless a few steps away from him. For god's sake, was the boy good for anything except scowling?! Aidou huffed.

The Level-E crawled out from under the pile of trash – right where it belonged in his opinion. With one look Aidou froze the creature. When he he had been younger, he needed to point at the targets or sometimes even missed them and froze a servant instead. It didn't happen too often as he learned control quickly and used the ability to his amusement. At that time he'd collected ice sculptures of birds, squirrels and such; glittering like diamonds on his shelves and caught in the moment for eternity. They were tokens of the accuracy of his ability, marked his genius all the more.

The ex-human was nothing like that. Even encased in ice, his grimace was unmistakably ugly.  
For once in the last two days some luck decided to shine upon him like the late afternoon sun and spared him some shreds of usefulness in form of Kiriyuu Zero. With a shot of his Bloody Rose he smashed the vampire to pieces. Not that he would ever admit that loud; a noble like him didn't dirty his hands or mouth about such things. But wait, the vampire being dead was not of help …

"Oh dear god, great job, Kiriyuu-kun! You finished him off single-handedly. I wonder why I should've caught him alive. Is it perhaps - just maybe - because he's hurt Yuuki-chan?" Aidou paused. "That is like – wait, there is no comparison to your exultant attitude." He didn't conceal the irony in the affected tone. It dripped from his voice like the frazzles of ice that he shook from his clothes. "Let me get this straight: _You _rendered it impossible to interrogate him." A lecture from Kaname-sama about his duties, his behavior and stuff, save it for good, that was something he didn't want to endure in the near future, thank you very much.

"Whatever, vampire. Why don't you go out of my way and back to school? You have classes soon, don't you?" Zero glanced at the sky meaningfully which was mostly orange tingled with purple shaded clouds, the color shift darker the nearer the horizon was.

Aidou scrapped an insulting retort for once, instead he called his driver and left the prefect with the remnants of his kind. "Jerk," he muttered under his breath. Other rampant terms flashed in his mind and made him smirk on his way back.

He didn't even bother to go to the Moon Dorm after he got out of the car. Aidou took a short cut through the woods and entered the towering academy building without attracting any high-pitched screams of female Day Class students. As supposed, Kaname was in the infirmary along with Chairman Cross, both on each side of Yuuki's bed. The girl was pale and breathed slowly, either she slept or was still unconscious.

"Kaname-sama, Chairman." Aidou waited till their eyes were set on him and chose his words carefully. "The vampire was killed by Kiriyuu Zero. I didn't have the chance to interrogate him."

The Chairman leaned back. "Too bad. We'll have to wait till my cute Yuuki wakes up."

"Very well, Aidou. I have one last favor to ask of you, after that you are dismissed from tonight's classes." The pureblood passed the blonde a neatly folded piece of paper from the side table. "It looks like Yuuki wanted to meet a friend tonight at the lake. Make sure that the girl goes back to her dorm. She's Yuuki's dear friend, so you're responsible for her safety."

In his eyes it read: _The girl is untouchable. Even if you're near her she's behind the glass panel. There are two rules: Don't bite her, don't make advances to her._ _Do you understand?_

He nodded shortly. _Ugh_.

"Yori-chan is such a nice girl. She shares a room with my Yuuki and has never raised trouble or anything." The chairman extended his song of praise about that girl on how excellent her grades were, her flawless manners. Aidou decided to take flight before his ears went deaf, exhaling deeply as he leaned against the cool glass of a window opposite to the infirmary room. To him that girl sounded rather plain, then again except for Yuuki with her delicious blood all of the Day Class girls seemed plain. But anyway, after this last job was done, he would be free to sleep straight, all the more reason to make his way outside now.

He unfolded the note and skimmed over a few lines of different writing. One could only be called a scribble while the other was without frills, just tidy letters on a piece of paper, so it was no enigma to figure out which writing belonged to the klutzy prefect.

"_Let's meet tonight, Yori-chan. We haven't talked in ages.__"_

_-__ "Don't you have to patrol?"_

"_Zero skips all the time, it won't hurt if I miss an hour. There's something I need to tell you."_

_-__ "Then, at the usual spot by the lake after you've kept our fellow female student population at bay? And we have to keep the curfew in mind, Prefect Cross Yuuki."_

"_Yori-chan, if you're with me, forget the curfew. I'll bring you to the dorm safely."_

_-__ "You said it, Yuuki. I'll remind you if that gloomy person behind us finds out."_

"_Don't worry about Zero. Let's just meet tonight, okay?"_

_-__ "Yeah."_

_Usual spot by the lake?_ What kind of description of a place was that? Was he meant to run around the whole _lake_? Aidou snorted. He pushed the big door of the school building open, descended the stairs two steps at a time. No big deal with only four steps existing. Fucking boring, no challenge at all.

Stupid girls, stupid Kiriyuu, stupid Level-E, stupid tasks, stupid sun, stupid Kiriyuu, stupid day, stupid Kana…  
No, stop, he did not want to think that! Of course not.  
Never would he dare to think something like this. No, he wouldn't. Who knew if the dorm leader might find out? Then Aidou was sure he was screwed. But sometimes it was as tempting as the forbidden fruit of blood. But he was a genius, a master of self-control.  
A master of fooling himself.

He would better hurry up if he ever wanted to drop onto his bed. His feet hit the forest floor at a lower frequency as his strides became longer, the sounds of his steps decreasing until you couldn't draw a distinction between the usual evening sounds in the forest and his running. Some twigs brushed his face but he didn't care. Besides his advanced powers of a noble he liked the supernatural speed the most.

Glancing through the skyscraping trees as he started in a circle around the lake, he looked out for the girl with sharpened senses. Now that he wasn't surrounded by ecstatic fragrances but with a bunch of animal and vegetation scents, his senses worked just fine again. It was his nose that picked up the outstanding human presence only trees away.

The momentum fooled him as he skidded to a stop. He faltered through some pines towards a fair haired girl. He didn't stop. He couldn't. Instead he collided with the big-eyed girl, crushing her fragile figure under him.

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Puh, this is quite long, but since I had to make up for the tiny prologue, I guess it's fair. What do you think about it? Opinions, mistakes - I'm curious ;)

And shame on me! - I nearly forgot to thank you all for reading and reviewing on the few lines of the prologue. Thanks to you I was grinning (madly) all day long. So, again, thank you very much.


	3. Lies for the Clueless

2. Lies for the Clueless

_I know that you know my lies. If I were to confess one truth, I'd tell you that my reason is you._

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For a moment he remained motionless, too busy inhaling the citrus scent the girl emitted that he nearly didn't notice the small hand pushing against his chest with the strength of a plush toy. Seriously. In comparison to his body being as solid as granite the pressure _was_ like that.

"Aidou-senpai?" Her constrained voice came from somewhere next to his right ear. She didn't sound very much pleased which made him blink. Wasn't she awed and blown away by his presence?

"I am, quite literally. Can you please get off me?"

The brusque tone brought Aidou back to senses. He stood up quickly, with his face heating up against his will. Could she read his mind?

"You said it aloud." The girl said quietly as she straightened up and brushed off her uniform. In Aidou's eyes it made no difference, really. He wondered why she wasn't broken in pieces as his weight smashed her to the ground. His gaze wandered up to her face where her eyes were strangely fastened on his face.

If she was in pain or only agitated … Kaname's silent warning entered his mind again. He'd just knocked over the _dear_ friend of the prefect. Darn it. By this time he found the day had turned beyond the term of _worst_.  
He shifted on his feet. Why was he to take care of mortals? They were pawns and food, but not something you cautiously have to look after with more caution than a shepherd who watched over his flock from afar. "Sorry, my fault." He muttered of necessity. Hopefully, Kaname-sama never learned of this accident; he'd call it a failure. Or Ruka and Akatsuki, who would tease him forever because of those abasing words; he would never choke them out again, even if it was for lifesaving.

This encounter was to end quickly, he decided with a glance at the thin line of purple on the horizon, getting gradually outweighed by the growing night. He focused on her again, bored, exhausted, and found that her stare still hadn't left his face. "What?" He asked, although he expected no answer. Those human girls where so easily flabbergasted by his beauty, they rather swooned than talked to him even if they proclaimed on various occasions that a conversation with him was what they wished for at heart. He snorted inwardly. Most of the time he basked in their admiration whereas on single occasions he was tired of it. Sometimes he wished there would exist an on-off-switch like "I'm in the mood for dumbfounded, drooling girls. Come and be awed!" or "Get the fuck off! I'm not miserable enough to see your faces." What a pity he hadn't found out about that one yet.

He had been sleepless for two days straight, had had a hell of a day today – now guess.

She cocked her head, her honey colored hair dancing along, and surprised him with a non-stuttered reply. "Did you have a fight? There's blood on your face and on your clothes." Her gaze scrutinized him from head to toe. "Do you want me to bring you to the infirmary? Someone should be still there."

"No, not the infirmary!" The words escaped his mouth just too quick to maintain a careless posture, so he resorted to scrappy excuses for which his brain couldn't come up with enough plausibility. "It's crow- … it's, um, just that – I'm perfectly fine, you know. Don't I look fine? Blood suits me, ne?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, letting it vanish under the fringe of her hair. _Wrong choice of words, obviously, idiot_. _Why not just say it's paint from a theatre play in which I take part?_ That would've been more creative if not more believable.

He had a fine skill of classifying people. The ability grew with the years in the world of noble vampire society. There had always been schemes and dishonesty from the beginning, apparent men and women of honor charming a child of an influential family to earn bonus points in front of his parents. If they'd found out, these people usually ended up dead from a societal point of view. Human nature was deemed complicated in trade literature – the nature of vampires was simply twisted. Their lives were technically endless; they felt empty soon so they tried filling the hole with something entertaining which might range between collecting stamps as well as murder. Some went mad too – _but well_, Aidou thought, _you wouldn't want to get too optimistic, would you? Takes the whole fun out of gaining insights._

Based on her few movements and the look in her eyes Aidou found it easy to judge her the skeptic type – which was not of help when his brain was empty except for feeble excuses. Charming her was no option either since he wasn't allowed to do so, so maybe straight to the point…? Yes, don't give her time to consider you lying. _Be nice,_ Kaname's voice reprimanded him mentally. _Shut up_, he retorted.

"No infirmary, thank you for your concern, …" He trailed off. Her name hovered in the back of his mind but he couldn't get a hold of it. It didn't matter as he quickly filled the pause with a purposefully velvet voice. "Actually I'm here to tell you that Yuuki-chan is tied up with, eh, stuff and can't come to meet you."

"Is that so, Aidou-senpai? That's a pity." When she bent down picking up a pad and a pencil case off the ground, her hair covered her face. "When did she tell you? Did you see her in the infirmary?"

"Yes, actual– how did you know?"

She caught him off guard in a shrewd way.

_No, no, no. No._ _Damn you_.

"I mean how did you know I was already there?" He could have slapped his forehead. Where was his brilliancy now? Wasn't he supposed to be a genius? On top of that a sophisticated genius, one who didn't falter on his words while conversing with mere human. Aidou raked through his perfectly angled blonde strands. Who was she anyway? _Never seen her before_. Not that she would stand out with her short blond hair and the pale skin in the mass of girls adoring him. Another girl in his fan club was like an additional fly in the stable; they just kept coming. But usually the female beings were unconscious by now instead of asking him silly, absolutely darned valid questions.

So much mistakes and failures on one day adding level to the pile of previous flops on his profile which he was almost sure Kuran Kaname was memorizing one by one. He'd mark this date as stay-in-bed-for-safety-red-letter-day later tonight. _That is, if I get away in one piece. Why does the friend of that prefect have to be in possession of a working brain but not functioning eyes so that she hasn't fainted at my looks by now? _Shame on this somebody who didn't invent the on-off-switch to support him in times like this. Aidou desperately needed a plan. Kaname-sama ought to forbid the Cross girl to have subtle friends and tell her to dump all of them in precaution after she regained consciousness.

The girl shifted on her feet. His uneasiness didn't go by unnoticed. "It's obvious considering how you look. No human could possibly run if he looked messed up like you and hasn't been to the infirmary."

Aidou would've loved to snicker aloud as he caught the joke the girl didn't know she pulled. He wanted to break down in a mad laughing fit, rolling in the dirt and on the shattered leaves, in a way admitting that he drew a blank on these recent days. Despite his growing mental insecurity he reined in the corners of his mouth from quirking. "Right, right. But, you know, she hit her head while she was on duty during the class changeover. The Chairman said she needed rest and not some overreacting, anxiety causing visitors."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "So you say I'm – as her friend – not allowed to see her? Don't you think that I can decide what is good for her better than you can?"

He took a step back in case the stare of the girl materialized into a dagger whereas her tone was calm. "It's not my fau…It's Dorm Leader Kuran's order, too. Don't make me the scapegoat, I'm just here to get you back to your dorm safely!" He defended himself, surprised, and realized two things in the same second. The girl _had _claws. And he had judged her to be the kitten type or the helpless lamb; anything but the mother cat. She stomped on his pride with concrete blocks fixed under the soles of her shoes as he had to admit she seemed not to fancy him whatsoever and even made him blurt out a hint of the strong hierarchy he was to follow. Of course people knew of Kuran Kaname's title as the dorm leader, but directly giving away that he was inferior to him was like humiliation and defied him of any credit.

"Let's get you back." He growled. Screw being polite; she wasn't either in spite of whatever senseless praises the Chairman had lilted. Maybe she had a split personality or was one of those pretending bitches. Honestly, he was being platonically nice to her, and all he received were allegations. What's with his clean slate? Didn't that count anymore? He could have Akatsuki couch for him that he had sincere intentions for once.

Or rather not, if you thought about it.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, brows furrowed and stance firm. "Make me."

.

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.

Yori bit her lower lip intently to cool down instead of slapping him silly with her free hand. Her other hand was trapped in a grip of steel by Aidou who dragged her straight down the graveled path to the Sun Dorms as he'd threatened. She couldn't help but feel offended which was thoroughly against her level-headed brain. Not failing to notice the clearly disgruntled line of his mouth when she shot him another piercing look, she observed his straight ahead looking face further.

She only knew him by sight and reputation. It was hard not to overhear excited giggles of her classmates when they talked about the members of the Night Class and traded pictures of them like on a swap meet before classes started. Interest wasn't exceptionally sparked in Yori when she'd seen the dazzling elite students for the first time and it didn't happen at the second or third times when she first took part in the dusk activity of watching them, so she moved on to other less pointless pastimes. But from what she'd heard from Yuuki when she uttered complains about her responsibility at the class change, this boy – vigorously pacing two steps ahead of her – was usually only fanning the fire of the Day Class girls in a cheery manner. His bad temper right now didn't quite fit that image and it repelled her nearly as much as him hampering Yuuki's work. Additionally, he'd acted strange from the very beginning, was bloodstained albeit healthy, and had tried to lie to her.

She believed him that Yuuki was hurt, but the fact that he wanted to keep it from her made her askance. Yuuki hit her head or other limbs quite often; it was not unusual for her to get entangled in her blanket while she got out of bed in the morning – certainly her friend's head was thick enough to put up with these things and, according to her worried expression sometimes, with even more.

The only conclusion would be that it was a serious injury.

Yori stopped short on the gravel walk, yanking Aidou backwards in her movement as his hand was still fastened on her wrist. She was worried about her friend and his shallow excuses had made it worse. Yuuki's state was far more important than simple school rules, Yori decided.

"You, what the hell –"

A frown flitted across his face, thus she straightened her back in self-preparation. "We are going back – or at least I am. You don't have to come along and watch over if you're afraid of the consequences. This is still a school, what perilous things would happen here?" Managing to get her hand free and curled up against her chest, she indicated her direction towards the school building with a step backwards. It had been eating away at Yori that she never seemed to be in the position to help Yuuki or reassure her in any way, because she was left out of the secret things her friend was so obviously involved in. This kind of physical issue made her want beat a path to support her, a way to give Yuuki back what she'd given to Yori.

Aidou ignored the last part of her ignorant speech while the undercurrent of edginess in his voice was not completely concealed. "Girl, obviously you didn't understand – I'm supposed to bring you back in whole." He was too fond of his head to have it served to Kaname on a silver platter. He wrinkled his forehead in late realization, anger flared in his blue eyes. "Are - are you implying I'm afraid of Dorm Leader Kuran?" He demanded incredulously.

"Aren't you?"

Yori bit her tongue at the impulsive reply the moment the words left her lips. Too forward, too harsh. Suddenly, she visualized how off she felt. Her anger and fear were constantly feeding the thick knot in her stomach that did nothing but sidetrack her. _Yuuki_, she thought sighing, _you get me worried so much_.

"I am sorry, Aidou-senpai. I have no right to say these things to you." She recoiled.  
Whatever was going on in the Moon Dorms was none of her business, and if Aidou had a problem with obeying the pecking order in his class it came to her that she'd hit a nerve and piqued the atmosphere. Her apology was meant to soothe partly both his temper and herself honestly.

Aidou let out a sigh as if he'd release his displeasure as he rolled his head from left to right; he tried to rearrange his facial expression, maybe hiding the murderous intent Yori felt him emanating, and failed with an angry snort.

To her it sounded like he was trying a meditation technique – maybe he was, she didn't know. Was he the type for meditation at all? Considering his mood it wouldn't be too bad of an idea. He seemed different from the few times she'd seen him before, not very much sparkling and overly friendly, a contrast to the usual impression of the alluring Night Class students. Yori held no prejudices of people she didn't know, so the terms _mysterious_ and _puzzling_ appeared objective enough in her mind to replace _wayward_.

His scowl indicated non-wrought aptitudes in the case of calming. The air around him felt chilly. "I'm saying this once, girl, so listen well! Your friend will be fine again by tomorrow, so do me a favor, and play along. It's freaking late and I'm fucking sleep-deprived for days, so just let me walk you back to your dorms like I'm supposed to so that I can go to bed and you can do whatever you want! Sneak out again, I don't give a damn, but do it after I'm gone!" He started walking again, burying his hands stiffly in the trouser pockets of his soiled uniform. "And, damn right," he added, "– you had no right."

She stared at his retreating back and closed her eyes, suppressing a moan. Even though Yori was free now, feelings of guilt dictated her into tentatively falling into step behind him. The silence was as heavy as the night had grown black, but she deserved his frosty reverence; if it gave her more time to weigh his words than she was just looking at the positive aspects.

She really hoped he was right, Yuuki had to be fine. With a glance at the bright moon she wished she had the freedom to see for herself but she had already caused him enough trouble. He was ordered to bring her back, she'd denied. His condition didn't seem sound, no matter what he said, and she'd stalled. There was blood all over him for god's sake – who would be okay? He was carrying out this duty assigned by Kuran who surely wanted the best for Yuuki. So for those matters she was going to depend on his words.

They arrived at the entrance of the Sun Dorm where the Aidou fretfully waited with his arms crossed under the shadow of an oak tree. Yori ascended the few steps to the thick wooden door, a faintly warmer breeze of air welcoming her.

With her back to the door Yori bowed her head. "Thank you for walking me back." _Even though there was no need to it_, she added silently, feeling remorse nagging at her. _Kuran-senpai must be pretty strict_.

"Kindly stay in your dorm, girl! Yuuki-chan will be okay."

She arched her eyebrows. So much for the charming manners of the Night Class – they apparently vanished from close up. "The 'girl' is named Sayori. Good night, Aidou-senpai."

The door fell into its lock with much less noise than she'd thought, but perhaps Aidou's unsubtle muttered curse drowned it out. "Annoying person." Despite her lingering worry, she rolled her eyes in teasing amusement.

.

.

.

It was just like he'd said.

"Yori-chan, I am so sorry about yesterday! We haven't really gotten to talk in so long, and then I had you waiting there half the night! I'm so glad nothing happened to you. The woods can be so eerie at night." Yuuki paused for her first breath since she had sat down on her usual seat in the classroom next to her friend. "Good thing Kaname-senpai had Aidou-senpai look after you. Did he behave well? He can be really noisy at times."

"Don't mind, Yuuki, don't mind. Anyway, what has happened to you yesterday? I was told you were injured."

Yuuki gave her a sheepish smile. With the fresh memory of Aidou's lie dominating the back of her mind it looked suspicious to Yori, even strained. The way her friend tilted her head slightly to the right, her chocolate bangs falling in her face, was indication enough that she steadied herself for a lie.

Normally, Yori preferred to call it a non-truth because she was profoundly convinced that Yuuki hated lying to her from the very start – on top of that she was so bad at it, she couldn't lie to save the world. Unthinkable. It was for an unknown reason that she constantly frayed their bond of friendship with empty excuses. But now something was just off. Whether it was the pleading look in Yuuki's eyes or her effortless tone, Yori felt something was odd.

"Eh, I fell down hard yesterday when I chased some girls near the Moon Dorm. Nothing bad, really, just some bruises, and a concussion. No blood was spilled at all – it's so harmless that's even embarrassing to talk about." She assured, giggling lightly.

From head to toe Yori examined her and had to agree: Any bruises or scratches were most likely covered by her clothes; she looked fine. What she hid in her occupied mind was a different question. "What's that on your neck?" She pointed at a spot near the collar of the black uniform; it had been concealed by her hair before the locks moved with her head. Two pinkish dot-like marks distinguished itself from Yuuki's skin.

"What?" She fumbled on them and brushed her hair over. "Oh, you mean this? It's a leftover from yesterday's accident."

Yori creased her forehead in disbelief. Unless Yuuki had fallen on the prongs of a fork yesterday…

Her train of thought ended abruptly. Yuuki cringed into a tense position beside her when their math teacher slumped his bag on the desk in front of the class. He scanned the attendants in a practiced manner and began his lesson without further introduction. Well, he didn't need one since the students' attention was instantly focused on him as if he'd used a police whistle. "Good, good." He said. "Open your books, page forty-two."

Usually Yori had no problems with matching up to the teacher's explanations but her eyes strayed off the board more than once to watch Yuuki from the side. She took notes, tried to tear her hair out, sighed heavily – considering the subject it was normal. Yet, she was too concentrated to be really focused on the lesson; too eager to block out anything else having her eyes locked on the formulas on the board that notoriously were a complete mystery to her. What was she hiding that put her in danger? Why wouldn't she commit that fundamental fact to her? Yori was fed up with the persistent worry, the suspicions, and the lack of confidence in her character. She was sick of it.  
She was able hold her curiosity in check but not the simple concern for a friend. Obviously, there had something to be wrong with her that her best friend wouldn't tell her what was going on. Something had been hurting her, first emotionally, now even physically but she could do nothing except grope in the dark and feel the walls for a light switch. If she asked Yuuki directly, would she lie to her face? Yori clutched her pencil tightly, the only sign of the turmoil inside her because her impassive face betrayed nothing. The sudden ring of the bell startled her.

"Yori-chan?" A hand waved in front of her face. "Did you fall asleep?"

"No, I…" She didn't know. _I…_ What was she to say if she didn't know if it even mattered? Would it result another non-truth?

"Let's go."

Her head shot up. "It's in the middle of class." She looked around if anyone else paid attention to them; however, her classmates were busy filling the classroom with bright chatter.

"Do you feel well? The class rep said it just now, the history teacher is sick." Yuuki informed quietly. She held out her hand to Yori, her eyes swiftly flitting across her shoulder. Zero's usual seat was vacant. "Let's go. I have something to tell you in private. About yesterday."

Slowly, she followed Yuuki onto the corridor which was lit by bright sunrays through the round arched windows along their way. Her accelerated heartbeat contrasted her careful attempt to appear calm and normal because she was afraid that her expression would switch with each changing scene of light. Yuuki led her downstairs, past the main entrance and more hallways. Their footsteps echoed in Yori's ear; beside that it was strangely quiet. When they arrived at the school's park the atmosphere loosened somewhat; being surrounded by rainbowed colored flowerbeds had a nice effect.

Yuuki inhaled deeply after sitting down at the brink of a fountain. Her sad brown eyes locked with Yori's. "You're my best friend, Yori-chan. I'm sorry, so sorry… I… T-There's something I have to confess."

.

.

.

* * *

Yosh, I made it finally and that's all thanks to you guys! I'm sorry for the long wait, hopefully you enjoy this chapter like the last one even though it's kind of a filler. Aidou and Yori had their first encounter and Yuuki is going to confess something in the next one. I haven't finished the 3rd chapter yet, but if you're bored out of your mind in the meantime, read my oneshot centered on Zero x Yuuki xD

Did you have a look at that one scene with Aidou and Yori together in the manga? It's hardly worth mentioning but you never know what's happened between the pictures. Someone up for a one-shot or something?

I'd love to read your opinion on this chapter, things you liked or disliked about it. Reviews are worth a whole lots of piles of muffins and cakes ;D

Thank you all very much for reviewing and alerting!


	4. Connect the Dots

3. Connect the dots

_Come by, come by,  
and let me scare you away.  
Meet my darkest secret,  
and watch it burn your light._

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

The blond girl sat down next to her friend on the stone brim of the fountain, her eyes purposefully resting on a bed of lilac larkspur. The color seemed to glow in a warm hue under the early October sunshine but she still felt shivery. Beside her, Yuuki took several deep breaths as though bracing herself for what she was about to say. It couldn't be helped that it was going to be difficult for her. Yori refrained from reassuring her with a smile and waited patiently for her to start.

"I'm really sorry," the prefect began. "I know it's wrong and I know I've hurt you, Yori-chan. What kind of friend would do that?"

Yori had not the heart to confirm her friend's words and simply observed Yuuki out of the corner of her eye. Yori's sight fell on the other girl's hands that were occupied creasing the hem of her skirt. Silence broadened between them like an invisible wall until Yuuki decided to continue hesitantly.

"I've kept it for some time now, but recently I started thinking … it isn't okay how things are now. Despite me shrugging it off you still started to notice. It was bound to happen in some way, considering we are best friends and room-mates too," she smiled, "and I'm a bad liar, aren't I? I'm glad it hasn't come so far that you've gotten involved directly, Yori-chan. This secret, it's not actually about me. Bu-but I'm part of it. This matter, it's about … it's like, you know…difficult." Her shoulders sagged down. "Kaname-senpai, he – …the … I …"

Chirping birds cut her off.

Well, not really but Yori was not experienced enough in lip-reading to decipher the voiceless movements of Yuuki's mouth. The brunette's lower lip trembled as she opened and closed her mouth several times as if she was freezing each time inwardly before she could say something.

Why was Yuuki being so nervous? Was the story she was about to tell that treacherous? She acted as though any word she might say would shatter Yori's world beyond repair. Who cared if it was too much to handle? Whatever it might be, Yori _wanted_ to hear it.  
She clenched her jaw tightly. Anything was what she wanted to know; size or importance of that piece of knowledge didn't matter as long as it was a fraction to hold onto. If its surface turned out to be slippery and, even if she lost it – she was desperate enough to hazard possible consequences. She just wanted to _know_. There had been a lot of times when she wasn't worried at all, but also different ones, when she waited up late because of an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She would read at her desk to shorten the time without getting further than a few pages and by the time Yuuki trudged back into their room, she would find her roommate sleeping with her head on the book.

Yuuki groaned in frustration. "I'm terribly sorry. Look, I can't tell you this even though I want to badly. Believe me, I want you to know it, everything. I really want to have my best friend in on it." She jammed the heels of her palms to her forehead, heaving one long sigh. Abruptly it changed into a gasp. "No! It's better you don't know, it's not safe. I'm selfish. How can I want to bring this on you? And still, I'm a bad person, wanting my best friend knowing something like this. I don't think I could stand it if they decide to take it away from you again."

Her rambling sent Yori's head spinning. Her brain caught as much that Yuuki wouldn't mind a confidential. What was the problem then? Who would take anything away from her?

Yuuki's rant made sense to her in no way that she could wrap her head around. They were teenagers, living in a boarding school so most of their life was _about_ school. As long as overreacting fans of the Night Class weren't counted, the word "dangerous" existed right next to harmony on the academy grounds. Was it that she feared telling Yori because she was afraid of an argument with her? _I'd be too relieved to even think of accusing her._ Yori gulped down a sigh.

Or was it because she wasn't _allowed_ to spill anything, and instead, had to keep her lips sealed because of some consequences? Yuuki did bring up Kaname-senpai's name, although there was no possible connection Yori could think of. As far as she could tell, he would spread fluffy feathers on the ground Yuuki was about to walk on if it weren't for his refined character. Then again, he might just get some of his classmates to do it.

Yori had almost assumed she had tuned out her friend's agitated voice while she was absorbed in her thoughts or had even grown deaf to it unless she overheard something extraordinary when she realized the silence around them was true; with a side glance the girl saw her friend indulging herself in thoughtfulness. Yori breathed a sigh, a sigh of giving in – or rather being forced into it; a sigh of resentment towards unknown circumstances which forbade Yuuki to break down the silence between them. Somewhere inside of Yori, there were feelings of anger simmering, and feeling strangely expectant, she waited for them to run high. It was not often that she felt something as intensive, and even now she felt unsure how to classify the numbing sense it had to it. Her distracted thoughts felt detached from the nondescript feelings in her subconscious.

"Of course!"  
Yori flinched.

All of a sudden Yuuki jumped to her feet and lapsed into an agitated pace towards a bed of asters and back. She pulled Yori up with her hands till they faced each other at eye level. "Why haven't I thought of this sooner?"

Yori cast a peculiar glance at the prefect's glowing face. Something was wrong, terribly wrong… with Yuuki's brain perhaps?

"I can't tell you, please, Yori-chan, understand this. But there is one more way – you are smart, I know you can do it."

The blond girl stared at her friend, at their intertwined hands and back up to Yuuki's twinkling eyes. Then she shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'go on'.

"I can't tell you but you can find out!" Yuuki exclaimed happily, gazing at Yori who wondered if she was suddenly supposed to do The Happy Dance of Revelation.

Yori cleared her throat, stalling before she voiced her first words since the conversation had begun. "Yuuki – are you in a sect? Did they threaten you with something dire?" Hey, she was not some frantic idiot who had lost her head; it was a reasonable question. The secretiveness, her injuries, the worried look on her friend's face, the neckband … If there were some occult things going on here, surely danger wasn't far behind.

"Am I – what?" Yuuki gaped at her. "O-of course I'm n-not! Yori-chan, what on earth are you thinking?" She let herself fall back on the brim of the fountain and her let feet dangle above the ground. The expression on her face seemed to smoothen out while she chewed on her upper lip. Slowly a light smile spread across her lips. "I'm going to patrol tonight. Don't worry if I'm later than usual, my usual route around the Moon Dormitories takes really _long_."

The sudden change of topic startled Yori. "Oh." Their conversation up until now hadn't tied up any loose ends. Instead, Yori felt not only stunningly ignorant now but baffled as well. She gave an absent nod. "Then I won't wait up for you."

"Sorry for cutting you out of your sleep in the past few nights."

"It's nothing, don't worry," Yori replied after a glance at her watch. "We are going to be late for the next class."

Yuuki's head bobbed up. "Why do you say this so casually? We have to hurry up!" She leapt to her feet, reached for Yori's arm, and pulled her friend all the way back to their classroom in a hectic run. The brown haired girl banged the door open with a breathless "Sorry we are late!"

The teacher merely looked up from some papers on his table, his eyebrows furrowed. Fortunately, they got away without any punishment as he only motioned them to their seats before starting the lesson in his usual monotonous voice. Yori squared her shoulders in relief as she sit down - unlike Yuuki, she wasn't used to detention and so far didn't regret missing the experience.

In the process of taking up her pen, an action so automatic that her fingers performed it without involving her mind, Yori became entangled in her thoughts again. The fact that Yuuki hadn't cleared things up as she had implied only fueled the whirl in her head. She couldn't help but think that after Yuuki's rants, her last outburst had to have a meaning. The brunette wouldn't raise her friend's hopes only to have them deflate like that.

Yori turned her head to the left, propping her chin on a hand. Her friend's humming beside her was like proof to her that she was not foolishly interpreting or making anything up. When Yuuki noticed Yori looking at her, she showed a thumbs-up, before she jotted down _You'll do it_ on her notepad and slid it to her friend.

_**.**_

Yori's day after that was a cloud of countless voices and images passing by. She perceived the content of her classes marginally, and dinner in the cafeteria proceeded in the form of her picking at the food on her plate, all the while in the presence of that bright melody. Briefly, she wondered where Zero was, as she glanced across the familiar faces. Every once in a while he bothered to spend his meal with the two of them much to Yuuki's delight.

But soon Yori became distracted once more, hardly realizing that she followed her friend away from the busy chatter to their shared room and plopped down on her bed. Automatically she reached for a book, and stared at the pages blankly.

_Come on, think. Put your brain into usage. _Yori brushed her dark blond curls back that kept falling out of place. She was tired of reflecting about Yuuki's words forward and backwards without coming to a reason or result that made sense. She threw a glance at the clock on her bedside table and then at the expanded beacon of dark blue outside the window. Yori let her head plop down on her pillow again.

_You're smart._

Yori sighed aloud_. Not for your secret, Yuuki. I can't do it. How do you expect me to decipher a secret with nothing on my hands? _The familiar creaking of their room door reached her ears but she paid no heed. Most likely, Yuuki had given her _something,_ and it was her own fault that she couldn't point at it or even make out a vague direction where that _something_ was.

"Yori-chan? I'm going to go on my rounds now. Don't stay awake for too long, because I'll take a _long_ time tonight." Yuuki stood in the frame of the open door as she tugged her prefect's badge in place, her eyes winking at Yori.

"Sure, take care." Yori wrinkled her forehead as the door shut. How could Yuuki be in such high spirits when Yori was failing her now? _She will be so disappointed…_ a voice stated in her mind to which she could only agree.

The turmoil of her thoughts impended to crash down in the perfect silence of the room. Yori slammed the book in her left hand down onto the bedside table. She hadn't read a page. While her friend was gone doing her job somewhere on the school grounds, she was still here figuring ou–

– out of the blue Yori felt really stupid. Not just _somewhere_ in a vague area of the campus, but in a limited _place_ for a vast amount of time. "Yuuki told me." she said aloud. "She told me what to do."  
Yuuki would be on patrol near the Moon Dormitories tonight – while all the inhabitants would be gone in class in the main building. No one would be around monitoring the hallways and classrooms.

The thought of scolding herself for her mindlessness vanished even before Yori shot up in her bed. Her breath came out a little ragged as she groped under Yuuki's bed. From countless of watching her friend prepare for her job Yori knew that there was a supply of torches stowed away in a box. Her fingers brushed something sharp, then a little further, they found the box and closed around a tube-shaped material. Pressing it against her pounding heart, she rushed out of the room, out of the dormitory. The fact that Yuuki had never before informed her where she was planning to patrol should have made her suspicious at once, since she had been as tense as a coiled up spring for any snippets of news.

Her mind was filled with almost exhilarating enthusiasm as she sneaked through the woods parallel to the path towards the school's main building. Although it was certain Yuuki wouldn't be around here, turning a blind eye to where Yori was heading, there was still Zero – that is, if he was actually doing his prefect job. If grumpy Zero caught her, it would be difficult to make reasonable excuses. Yori had never gambled and wouldn't start tonight; she wanted to be safe rather than sorry. After all, Yuuki had trusted her with finding out the truth; she was determined to use this opportunity to do so.

Because of her run out of the dormitory into the damp cold of the night, Yori's cheeks felt heated. Just in case, the flashlight in her hand was switched off to avoid attention, but it had been a little hazardous to distinguish her way from an obstacle at the beginning until her eyes got accustomed to the dim light.

Yori couldn't keep away the thought that a lined coat would be good right now, although she wanted it to be a protective barrier on her body more than just a simple item of clothing to keep her warm. The white cloudlets rising from her mouth seemed to jibe at her short attention span today. Yori almost suspected her clammy fingers to be frozen solid on the battery-operated torch in her hand. It was kind of expected since fall was claiming its righteous time now, and although the temperatures were mild enough during the day, they dropped as soon as the sun vanished behind the mountainside. "Nice," she said dryly to herself.

Soon, splattered yellow dots of outside lighting fell between the boughs on the ground, indicating her location and allowing Yori to pick up a more confident pace. Dry leaves crunched beneath her feet before she led her steps onto the gravel path through the school garden. The splashing water of the fountain reminded her of this afternoon. Yori was swallowing while she bridged the last distance to a lit side entrance. The school's most essential rule – she had been aware that she broke it tonight, yet it had only hovered on the borders of her mind. But opening this door and taking a step into the actual building shoved the knowledge back from the edge right to the forefront. If she wasn't already on edge, the tension in her head would feel even heavier than a chunk of cement.

Yori slid inside the building, shut the door soundlessly, and blinked at the dim lighting conditions. What did Yuuki want her to find out? Above all, did it really have anything to do with the Night Class? Yori had suspected this, firstly because Yuuki had mentioned Kuran Kaname, and secondly because – well, the point of her ghostly hint was to go to the school's main building when nobody else was there than the Night Class students.

The students were supposedly in class at this time, there was no way Yori could just knock on the door and asked for permission to observe them. But if she followed them after their class, she might be able to find out something. She was not as stupid as to hope for them to openly talk about the supposed secret, but Yori had no idea what other opportunity came into the equation.

After she had carefully listened for sounds at each door on the first floor, she went up the staircase of the left wing. Until then her calm breathing had been the only ghost of a sound; now, low murmurs reached her ears. Her locks swung from left to right as she tried to trace the origin of the sounds, her eyes skimming either side of the corridor as far as it was lit. Even though she knew it was foolish, she almost expected a moonlit ghost to appear in the intervals of the windows, trailing towards her.

Nothing. Of course it was nothing.

Yori's heart was throbbing against her chest, probably loud enough for anyone to hear. She scolded herself because of her imagination. _Stick to the obvious_. Listening intently, she edged forward a few meters on her right and pressed herself against the wall beside a classroom door. Even now so near, the murmur of voices still didn't rise above the volume of soft rain pattering in a forest. In vain she tried to catch the actual conversation without having to practically press her ear against the door; every little noise she made seemed to drown out the voices from inside. Although the corridor was soaked in humble lighting, there was no brighter strip coming from under the classroom's door. If it weren't for the soft sounds coming from inside, Yori would have doubted whether there was anyone inside at all.

Without warning, there was a creaking sound coming from the door. The lone noise echoed in the vast hallway of the second floor. Or maybe it did that just in Yori's head. In slow motion the handle moved downwards beside her, then stopped in midair. Her eyes flitted across the windows opposite to her, but the satin curtains weren't long enough to hide her. Her gaze flicked back to the door. It wasn't ajar yet.

Without another thought, Yori hurried back to the stairway as quietly as she could manage, ascended to an upper level, and crouched behind the banister. Blood rushed in her ears in a fast rhythm set by her pounding heart and Yori bit down on her lip hard as she heard the door downstairs open and close.

Someone drew in a loud breath and exhaled it noisily. "Finally out of this. It's so boring I wonder why I even bothered to get up. I still haven't caught up on my sleep. And I'm hungry, Akatsuki, let's get something to eat."

For a second Yori was sure her heart had decided to stop beating as she recognized Aidou Hanabusa's voice. He of all people. He wouldn't know anything ignorant as he was.

"Hanabusa, are you sure you want to eat something even though you felt _really_ sick a moment ago?" Despite her disinterest even Yori had picked up enough on the Night Class to know that Kain Akatsuki was a relative of Aidou. She linked his deep voice with the vague memory of a tall figure and bright hair. The irony in his tone was so obvious that it would have made her smile in probably any other situation.

"The only thing that makes me sick right now is the thought of those tablets. They taste so shallow! I tell you they mix them with colorant." Aidou snorted. "Just a raw steak would make me feel more alive than how I'm feeling right now."

"That's kind of disgusting from a human point of view, you know."

"I don't care as long as it's bloody."

Ew… uh-oh.

Until they stepped into her range of view, Yori hadn't consciously heard them moving but she suddenly cringed at the distinct sound of a pair of feet halting abruptly. She moved backwards by instinct until her back touched the wall.

"There's something in the air… do you smell it too, Akatsuki?"

Clothing rustled; Yori imagined the taller vampire turning his head. He couldn't possibly _smell_ her, could he? She wasn't wearing perfume of any sort… Yori pressed her lips tightly together. This was her chance to find out the secret that weighed Yuuki down; if she was caught now, her friend's faith in her would be wasted. Of course she had wanted an opportunity to follow the Night Class and overhear their conversation, but this had just taken a turn for the worse. Yori didn't trust Aidou that he would just let her go if he found her, not to mention that she didn't know anything about Kain. Her pulse seemed fit to burst in her veins. Like a child thinking _if-I-don't-see-you-then-you-won't-see-me,_ she squeezed her eyes shut but the uncertainty made her uneasy so she opened them again.

Yori watched with horrified fascination as Aidou's shadow enlarged on the wall directly in front of her, at the base of the stairs. She felt so stupid - if only she hadn't stayed to overhear them. The boy's shock of blonde hair appeared on the other side of the banister and turned towards her. There was no hesitation at all in his movements, as if he knew her location by sheer instinct alone. For a long second Yori was at a mental loss as her eyes met his and his eyebrows arched high in recognition.

"Yori! What are you doing here?"

Yori blinked her dizziness away. His tone, a mix of disdain and surprise had worked to sober her instantly.

"Who is it, Hanabusa?" That faint memory of Kain was proven right as his head popped up beside Aidou's. With his height, he was able to look over the stair-rail, his gaze wandering until it fixed on her. Slightly darker than his orange hair, his eyes were of a deep amber. Their expression seemed to bore into hers with a question. Yori felt like the proverbial deer in the headlights, and quickly pulled her gaze away.

"The prefect's friend." Aidou replied as he leisurely ascended to the landing she was on. Yori rose to her feet out of instinct. "Wasn't it pretty obvious last time that you're not allowed to stroll about the campus at night?"

Yori pursed her lips_._ She would get into trouble if they reported her night adventure to Chairman Cross. This was her chance, perhaps even her only one, and she didn't know anything yet. There were four stair steps left between them when it clicked in her head that standing here, frozen, held no good. She couldn't come up with a cool or even smart answer.

Yori let her hand slide over the cool wood of the banister as she took a step backwards. There was something intimidating about Aidou she hadn't acknowledged the last time; now it seemed to strike back with a vengeance.

Her back touched cold glass. A window.

She was trapped.

He reached the landing, looming over her although he wasn't nearly as tall as Kain. If Yori stretched out her hand, she would be able to touch Aidou's cheek. Perhaps it was intuition or a self-protective mechanism, because the one thing she suddenly knew was _don't let him get to you_.

Yori made it past two windows before something pulled her back with a jolt. Her wrist was stuck in an iron grip she was already familiar with, and felt as if it had been ripped out from her arm. "This hurts!" she managed to say.

"Really. Why don't you tell us why you're here? It seems like the chairman was misguided with that endless praise about you being a goody-goody."

Yori flinched.

"He will be disappointed when he finds out that Yuuki-chan spends time in bad company. Although," Aidou frowned, "it's strange that he doesn't even get that about Kiriyuu."

Aido's palm felt cold on her wrist, a strangely soothing effect on the throbbing pain.

"Let go, please. My reasons don't matter to you. I will just go back. You won't be bothered in any way." Yori was aware she was somewhat babbling and sighed when the grip on her wrist finally loosened. Her relief, however, was short-lived. Aido's fingers brushed further down and he took her hand and brought it up to his face as if about to perform a kiss on it.

Her eyes widening, Yori tried to wrench free, supporting her effort by putting her free hand against his shoulder. There was no personal space anymore, it was just him being _too_ _near_ her.

"Hanabusa." Kain's voice sounded like a growl caught and vibrating in his chest, a warning. "Not that girl."

"I haven't done anything, Akatsuki. I'm just parched." Aidou replied indifferently, and just then Yori felt a painful sting in her palm.

Her feet wouldn't move, heavy like stones, they were extended limbs of her stiffened back. "Whatever you're doing, stop it. Aidou-senpai, don't you hear me? It hurts!" Right below her thumb something sharp cut open a line in the soft skin of her palm. Pain welled up, sharp, burning. Yori couldn't make out whether it hurt so much because instinctive fear multiplied all factors or whether it was because of _him._

"Hanabusa, _enough_." Kain sighed, a hand raking through his hair. He turned away as though about to leave even without Aidou.

And then it stopped. Not the pain though, but the sense of something alien penetrating her skin. Yori slumped back against the window, her eyes squeezed shut to block out red-rimmed black dots swimming in her vision.

Déjà vu.

Yori finally ventured a glance at Aidou. Him dashing through the woods towards her, clothes stained dark brown while fresh blood dripped from several spots on his face. There were differences now: He wasn't running, but way too close, and it was _her_ blood smeared around hi–his ...

… his mouth?

Yori couldn't tear her eyes off his red lips, or Aidou altogether. His other hand came up, wiping away the blood, and reached further back, disheveling his blond hair. It was then when Yori saw the irises of his eyes glisten ruby red.

"What… what are…?" Asking even though she knew the answer – so stupid. _So_ stupid. She should have known that secret things were secret for a reason, and she wasn't sure anymore if the knowledge was worth any price. Was a fraction of this even worth anything at all? She had seen the truth, _felt_ it even. Maybe Yuuki had been right in the end, maybe her world had shattered into pieces right now in front of her.

_Vampires_.

Yori stumbled backwards. Aidou's eyes widened, their original blue color seeping back. He opened his mouth as Yori spun around. Her vision was blurred. She had to get away from this crazy nightmare; this horrible realization of something that could not possibly be _true_.

Her head connected with a resistance. The girl stumbled backwards and fought for balance, her eyes swimming. She put a hand to her head, uneasily waiting for her sight to clear.

"Chairman?" Aidou gulped audibly behind her.

The voice wasn't anything Yori remembered of the chairman sounding like. There was no indication of the usual light, childish tone; it seemed to have made way for a seldom seriousness. "Sayori. Aidou-kun. If you would please follow me into my office."

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Finally, this chapter is done. I took me forever to write it, for which I'm very sorry. It's a little longer than the ones before, and there's some kind of action in it (finally! I have to get the story moving). Thanks to all people who have been reviewing up until now, hopefully you're still with me. _Pulse Beats Dead_ is going to be finished sooner or later.

Now, here's also a big thanks to **Yen** who used some magic on this whole story to make it sparkle.

If you liked it, tell me about it. If you didn't, do it anyway xD  
I'd love to do a happy dance again, since I'm already in a singing mood.


	5. Breathing Out

4. Breathing out

_Drowning is not restricted to wet places._

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The clicking sound of the door rang in Yori's ears. It felt like the walls, though soothingly colored in a light hue, were closing in and turned the office into a prison without bars.  
Slowly, she moved forward to sink into a leather chair in front of the Chairman's desk, and pressed herself away against the armrest as Aidou took a seat next to her.

"Well," the Chairman begun after an effective pause, turning his back towards them, "Aidou-kun, are you thirsty?"

Although Yori kept her eyes locked on her fingers, in her peripheral vision the blonde's head spun around as though slapped. _Vampire_, it came to her viscously as if the information moved through quicksand until it reached and processed in her brain. _Supernatural being feeding off human blood and popular, attractive characters in books and movies._

He pushed his chair back leaping to his feet. "Chariman, no, it's not like that! It's some kind of misunderstanding…"

"Sit down, Aidou-kun, please. Here."

Despite herself Yori looked up. Cross placed a wineglass on the desk while his expression was completely smooth. He didn't seem disturbed by the Night Class student's behavior at all. In fact, he was calm, not displaying his usual bubbly antics. His character appeared reversed from ridiculous to dead serious, a side of him Yori hadn't known existed.

Yori watched Aidou pull out a small crested box from his jacket and drop something in the glass. Whatever he gave into the water dispensed red pigments making it look like red wine. He gulped it down with a look of disgust plain on his face. His eyes flicked to hers. The vivant red irises imprinted in her memory overlaid the real blue color momentarily; it was enough to make her shrink back in her seat.

"Sayori."

The girl turned her head, noticing a steaming cup of tea in front of her. Yori found herself chewing on her lip under the weight of the chairman's attention. He'd seen her reaction, she was sure of it. She hadn't thought about the consequences, not once. It had been easier to just concentrate on finding out the secret for Yuuki's sake and thinking about how much lighter she would feel as soon as she wouldn't have to worry without a reason anymore, how their friendship could go back to being more open.

But Yori had been wrong. She felt heavy from knowing of something that couldn't possibly exist. The weight doubled – she couldn't predict what was going to happen to her now, whether there was anything predictable in this world left. Aidou was the materialization of a myth, like probably each of his classmates if she had to guess. If something like that was possible, what wasn't?  
She sat next to a vampire that had proven he wouldn't hold back his instincts. She sat right next to a blood drinking creature, and could not move. She took a breath. It wasn't enough to slow down the whirl in her mind, but it had to suffice.

"How do you feel? Are you alright?" Cross sat down behind his desk. He propped his intertwined hands on the wood, observing her closely.

Maybe he would kick her out now, or sent her away so she would not be able to tell anybody about the school's secret – maybe hiding her in a psychiatric clinic. The staff wouldn't believe anything of what she told; in fact, saying something about vampires might cause her to end up dressed in a straitjacket in a padded room.

_At least_ _I know now. _Yori kept her gaze down on her lap where her hands rested. Dried blood on the wounded one outlined an ugly scratch from the thumb to her pinky finger. It looked worse than it felt yet she couldn't help but taste a bitter liquid on her tongue. "I'm okay."

"She's lying," Aidou said in the second of silence afterwards.

"Aidou-kun bit you, didn't he?" The chairman concluded, ignoring him. He pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose as if he talked about a storm coming up. A little worried, but not appalled, as if he had watched the weather forecast to confirm his feeling of a storm coming. Maybe there was a vampire-bites-human forecast on some secret channel he had watched instead.

"It was an accident," the blond boy cut in. He slumped back into his chair when Cross shot him a look

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, Yori-chan. You don't have to. We will help you deal with it, don't worry."

"Deal… with it?" She repeated. So he would send her away, just as she had thought. Please, not the psychiatric clinic. What about home? If he just sent her home… Was she even allowed to bid her goodbyes to Yuuki? Where did she even fit into the picture? Was she some kind of vampire guard to the students?

Her mind was caught in a haze. She listened to his talking, but she didn't find herself in it. The chairman could be talking about a stranger with her name as well.

"It would be best if you forgot about this incident. As soon as Kaname-kun arrives it will be over in a matter of minutes."  
Aidou nearly choked on his drink beside her. "Kaname-sama will come here?"

"Indeed."

Suddenly the door flew open, and Yori heard the vampire make a strange gurgling sound next to her. She was frozen. Over? How could this be over? Her life stretched out before her, a long clouded road where the only thing she could be sure of was the existence of vampires. There was no way to push this knowledge back into the fog and live on happily with no care in the world.

"Yuuki!" The chairman exclaimed in a tone both delighted and startled. He stood, his arms outstretched to greet his daughter.

"Yori-chan! Are you hurt? Are you okay?" The brunette cut through the room, and pulled her friend into a tight hug. She barely acknowledged the chairman at first. "I heard from Kain-senpai. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." There was something about her friend, maybe worry and adrenaline that she emanated in waves in the rhythm of her heavy breathing, that suddenly cleared Yori's head. It was like breaking through the surface of a lake after you've been under so long it had you almost suffocated. Yori breathed in deeply.

"It's okay, Yuuki. I know now." She gave a smile, still a bit wobbly but determined and patted the other girl's back. Yuuki exchanged glances with her father, stepping back but holding onto Yori's hand.

There was a knock on the door before it opened. Aidou looked up and Yori caught a glimpse of a downright frightened expression in his eyes when he watched the dorm leader step inside and shut the door behind him. He stood up, bowed, "Kaname-sama…" at the same time as Yuuki exclaimed, "Kaname-senpai, what are you doing here?" and went unnoticed. Kuran Kaname, Yori noticed once again, had a way of capturing a room's attention with no words at all. His eyes instantly zeroed in on Yuuki, then flashed to herself and back to her friend, clearly aware of the situation although Yori had no clue how.

"He is taking care of this situation," Cross explained. Yuuki opened her mouth to protest, Yori could tell from the angry glint in her eyes, but the chairman cut her off. "I know Sayori is your friend. Nevertheless she broke the rules when leaving her dorm after curfew and coming here." Suddenly, he looked weary, one hand pressed against his temples, the other supporting his weight on the desk where he leaned.

"And look at her state, Yuuki. Aidou-kun bit her and she doesn't take it well. It's better that she forgets," he concluded. Aidou tried to appear a little less memorable by shrinking in his seat. Maybe he wanted to hide from Kaname's hard stare.

"But have you even asked her if she can handle it? She fought so hard to find it out. It's my fault Yori-chan's here," Yuuki admitted meekly. "I really wanted to talk to someone, apart from Zero and you, but I wasn't allowed to tell anybody. I grew tired of lying to my best friend all the time. So I gave her a hint, which she figured out."

Yori tucked a tired strand of hair behind her ear, to keep herself from fiddling nervously under the sudden weight of several pairs of eyes on her. She cleared her throat tentatively. "What would happen if I don't want to try living with the revelation?"

"It's not a matter of wanting –" The chairman started.

"I would wipe your memory clean of this night and things related to it." Kaname said matter-of-factly, watching her.

"I wouldn't even remember wanting to help Yuuki, my worry about her or anything at all?"

Kaname shook his head. He then sternly fixed his eyes on Aidou. "Do you have any excuses for your misbehavior?"  
Aidou furrowed his brow as though thinking of a way to wriggle out of this obvious predicament. At last he declined his head. "No, I don't."

Kaname's hand came down so fast that Yori's eyes widened only later when the sound of a slap and Yuuki's gasp had already sounded through the room, died and an awkward pause followed. Aidou put a hand on his flaming red cheek while he backed away from the group at the desk and quietly sat down on the couch.

Yori bit her lip, not daring to interrupt the heavy silence. Had that been necessary? Sure, the Night Class student had scared her out of her mind and bit her even, but violence was a harsh punishment. But it occurred to her that Kaname couldn't care less about her opinion since she wouldn't have it for much longer.

"Um." The chairman pushed his glasses back up the ridge of his nose. "Perhaps, we should finish our business and go all to bed afterward. It's been a long night. Well, we should do," he corrected and indicated Yuuki, Yori and himself.

"Right," Kaname agreed and stepped up to Yori.

Swiftly, she backed away. It was more intuition than her thinking rationally. "No."

"Yori-chan…"

"No," she repeated, more firmly this time. "Yuuki is right. I fought hard to get here and I'm not about to let that go to waste by turning into a lunatic. I can keep quiet about this. I can handle it."

"The rules are for everyone," Cross said. "I'm sorry."

Usually, she would nod and obey. Maybe it was even the right thing to do. Now she only felt anger for them wanting to take away the connection she'd wished for so long. "They are my memories and not yours to take!"

It was so strange that the ability of wiping one's memories clean didn't throw her off even further. But this night had already been so disconnected of any that she knew, that she thought it wouldn't make a difference anyway. She hoped it was burned so deeply into her brain that it was impossible to forget.  
"Aren't they my responsibility? I can deal with this." Yuuki's grip on her hand tightened. Yori had almost forgotten it was there. But it was, always supporting her.

"We can trust Yori. She's the most trustworthy person in the world, I would know. And she's smart and brave and stubborn. Please, Chairman. She won't tell anyone. And if she finds out she can't cope after all, Kaname-senpai will still be there to erase her memory." Yuuki looked at the two men hopefully. Upon their unmoving faces she used her last resort. "Please, Father?"

Yori almost expected the chairman's usual teary-eyed breakdown, but of course this was different. He was serious, and if there was a reaction at all, it were only his features softening a bit.  
"Well, if Kaname-kun…" He complied hesitantly. "We would need to establish special rules though. And detention for breaking them in the first place."

"Yori would be a great asset on my patrols. She can be a real fighter." Yuuki pushed some more. Yori shot her a disbelieving look. That her friend would go that far and downright lie for her sake. She quickly composed her features when Kaname's scrutinizing look swept over her.

There was another pause when the dorm leader seemed to contemplate the idea. His face gave nothing away. "If it makes you happy, Yuuki," Kaname said finally, already turning around and motioning for Aidou to get up as well.

"Great!" She exclaimed and threw her arms around Yori for another hug. The air rushed out of Yori's lungs without her letting it voluntarily. "Thank you! Really. We did it! Yori-chan, you can keep your memories, isn't it great!"

Yori felt a slow happy smile spread across her face though the rest of her body felt rather foreign to herself. Her legs were wobbly as if her bones had melted away under the pressure of her fear, and her arms felt so heavy she was tempted to let them drag her down.

And then she really went down, down, down, blackness creeping at the edges of her fraying vision.

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Okay. Wow. It's been what, more than half a year? You're right if you want to chomp off my head. I'm really sorry for the long wait, but school got sort of intense and didn't feel very inspired, like, not at all. Writer's block.

And yes, poor Aidou, but I just had to write it, it was like therapy XD

Which is one of the reasons why this is so short, but I figure it's something at least. I hope to get back into writing regularly, so I would love you for sticking with me. Thank you, to all the nice people who wrote reviews even long after the last update and anyone who put up with the endless wait.

Review please, if you still like or dislike this, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Since this piece is not beta-ed, point out any mistakes you might find.


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